


Growth And Growing

by indigorose50



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Birthday, Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25008661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigorose50/pseuds/indigorose50
Summary: On Caspar's birthday, he wakes Linhardt early and asks for a favor.(aka Caspar's shorter than me at the start of the game and I love it)
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez & Linhardt von Hevring
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Growth And Growing

**Author's Note:**

> An early posting for a special boy's birthday! 
> 
> Writing Caspar as a kid was super fun you guys. I'll have to remember that.
> 
> Happy Birthday, Caspar- my beautiful punch son!

The first of Blue Sea Moon dawned bright and clear, not that Linhardt was happy to see it. He had been having such a nice dream about napping in a field of flowers but the flowers had been little clouds that were so soft and some of the clouds sang lullabies and—

“ _ Linhardt _ !” 

“Ugh, fine, I’m awake.” Linhardt sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “You don’t have to shout, you know. I’m right here.”

Caspar, already out of bed, pouted. Even now at barely the age of 10, Caspar could pull off a truly toddler-esque pout. “You were falling asleep again! Of course I had to yell!”

There was a great comeback to that probably but Linhardt simply yawned. “What do you need?”

“What do I— It’s  _ morning _ ! My birthday morning!”

“Oh, right.” Linhardt pat Caspar on the head. “Happy birthday. Go have fun.” And he rolled over, taking the covers with him.

“Linhaaaardt!” Caspar climbed onto the bed and began shaking Linhardt. “Come on, you gotta help me with something!”

“Can’t it wait?”

“No!” 

Linhardt squeezed his eyes shut. He was pretty sure it  _ could _ wait. Maybe five more minutes. 

“No,  _ not _ five more minutes. Now!”

Oh, had he said that out loud? “Okay, okay.” Linhardt pushed Caspar aside so he could sit up. Ginning in a way that showed off a few missing teeth, Caspar slid off the bed. He practically jumped in place waiting as Linahrdt stretched, rubbed his eyes again, plant both feet on the ground, yawned for good measure—

“Hurry up!”

“This is as fast as I’m going to go, Caspar.” Caspar huffed and tapped his foot as he watched Linhardt pull on a pair of slippers. Done with being intentionally cruel, Linhardt crossed his arms. “Okay. What do you need my help with?”

“Follow me!”

And with that, Caspar took off out the bedroom door. Linhardt did as he was told, though at a much calmer pace.

The von Bergliez estate was in the middle of its various morning routines. Maids ran around preparing rooms for the day, guards could be heard sparing in the courtyard, and, even as such an early hour, messengers poured in from all over the Empire. Caspar was a few paces ahead of Linhardt. Though he was faster, Linhardt had longer legs. His stride kept him from losing Caspar through the hallways of the main estate.

Caspar led them to the ground floor and out a side door. Linhardt flinched as the full intensity of the sun hit him. Though still morning, it was deathly hot out. Why in the world did Caspar still insist on running? Linhardt squinted in the light, trying to figure out where his best friend had gone.

“Over here!” Caspar waved from the stable doors. He was still in his night clothes. A stablehand, who looked like they had been up for several hours already, sighed at the sight of Caspar. Linhardt himself didn’t feel self-conscious in his night clothes and slippers, though the latter made walking across the dirt path uncomfortable. 

Once Linhardt reached him, Caspar grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. The sunlight couldn’t get to them here. In fact, apart from the smell, this would make a good napping spot. Linhardt made a mental note.

Caspar approached a table of supplies. He pulled a length of rope from his pant’s pocket and held it up for Linhardt to see.

“Are we about to get to the point?” Linhardt drawled. 

Caspar nodded. “ _ This _ ,” he wiggled the rope, “is exactly how tall I was last year.” He grabbed a coil of rope from the table. “Now you gotta measure how tall I am  _ this _ year. Got it?”

Linhardt took the new rope. “And you couldn’t ask anyone else to do this?”

“Naw, I want you to do it. I wanna show you how much I’ve grown this year!”

With a sigh, Linhardt picked up a knife from the table. “We’ll need a stool.”

In no time, Linhardt stood on a stool beside Caspar, towering over him for a better vantage point. “You’re on your tiptoes,” Linhardt reprimanded.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not!”

“Caspar, if you really want to see how big you got, we have to be as accurate as possible.”

Pouting again, Caspar rocked back down so his heels were flat on the ground. “Fine.”

“That’s better.” Linhardt held the coil up to the very top of Caspar’s head and cut it there. Caspar bent to grab the new measurement immediately. As Linhardt climbed down, Caspar compared the two lengths of rope. 

He went uncharacteristically quiet. Usually quiet Caspar was a blessing; it meant Linhardt could read or nap in peace. But this silence was troubling. Linhardt watched his friend’s face fall. “Did I do it wrong?” Linhardt ventured.

“I thought I grew a lot. I really did,” Caspar said miserably. Frustrated tears gathered at the corner of his eyes and he swiped them away. Linhardt pretended he hadn’t seen them. “But I guess not.” 

Indeed, the ropes weren’t  _ identical _ but there was only maybe two fingers difference. “Yeah, it’s not a big change,” Linhardt stated. No need to beat around the bush. They could both see the ropes.

That didn’t seem to be what Caspar wanted to hear. Those tears came faster now, and he sat on the ground in his thin summer night clothes and curled his knees to his chest. He clutched a rope in each fist. The knuckles turned white as he shook. He crossed his arms over his knees and hid his face.

Linhardt felt a little out of his depth. It was one thing to comfort Caspar during a storm— those had a definitive end and he could always console Caspar with that knowledge. But this…

He heard Caspar sniff and knew he had to do something. “Give them here.” Linhardt tugged at one of the ropes to indicate what he meant. Caspar let them go without raising his head. “Look at me.” With a hiccup, Caspar did. His bottom lip was trembling, face covered in silent tear tracks. 

Linhardt sat across from him. “You’re being stupid.”

Caspar stared at him. “W-What?”

“You  _ have _ grown this year,” Linhardt went on. “Remember at the beginning of last autumn? I was reading under a tree and you saw that bee’s nest about to fall and you carried me away?”

“I remember…” Caspar sniffed again. “But so what?”

“Or how about when you threw that axe and hit the center of the target?”

“That was just lucky.” 

Linhardt huffed. “You say that now, but you were so proud when you did it. You went on about that for weeks.”

Caspar shrugged. “Lucky or not, it was still really cool.” 

“Yes, it was! That’s my point!” 

Linhardt waited for Caspar to see his point— which of course he didn’t, because this was Caspar. With a sigh, Linhardt held up the ropes. “Look, you didn’t get much taller. Who cares? You were busy doing other stuff. Who stopped that fruit cart from rolling over that child in the market last week? And that was right after you tried running after the guy who stole from the cart in the first place!”

That seemed to make things clear to Caspar. He unfolded himself, staring at his lap. He was quiet again, but this time that felt like a good thing. Linhardt waited.

“So,” Caspar began slowly, “you’re staying, even though I haven’t  _ grown _ , I’ve still gotten stronger?”

Linhardt resisted the urge to sigh again. “Basically, yes.”

Caspar grinned— and it was the best thing Linhardt had seen all day. With a  _ whoop! _ , Caspar jumped to his feet and pumped a fist in the air. “You’re right! I’ve done lots of cool things this year! Who cares about some stupid rope?!” He grabbed the ropes from Linhardt, tied them in a knot, and threw them on the supply table. “Come on! Let’s get dressed and see if my brother will train with us.”

“Train with  _ you _ , you mean.” But Linhardt did stand up with a smile. An enthusiastic Caspar he could handle just fine. “We should probably eat breakfast first. You remember what happened last time you—” 

He was cut off by Caspar grabbing him in a tight hug. Caspar nearly hoisted Linhardt off the ground, causing Linhardt to hug back more out of fear than affection. “Thanks, Linhardt,” Caspar said into his shoulder. “I’m glad I’ve got you.”

“Yeah, well.” Linhardt clung tighter when he felt his toes leave the floor for a moment. “Just be careful what you do with all this strength, okay?”

Caspar pulled away a bit to smile up at him. Then he seemed to become aware he was looking  _ up _ at Linhardt and frowned. “Can you stop growing taller?!” Caspar snapped. “I’m older so you have to do what I tell you. Stop getting bigger than me.”

“You’re only older until Red Wolf Moon.”

“That’s ages away!”

“No, it’s really not.”

Caspar scowled and turned towards the doors. “Whatever.” With more pep, he added, “Let’s have birthday breakfast and then we can bug my brother!”

Linhardt, once again, followed the practically bouncing Caspar to the exit. As he drew level, he pat Caspar’s head. “Happy birthday, shorty.”

“Hey!”


End file.
